Torn
by Valoja
Summary: There's you, unable to live alone. There's your sister, who wants to move on, and her boyfriend, trying to support her. And then there's him; he just wants to make sure you're okay. Reader x Kisuke. Songs by Evergrey (they're awesome, check them out).
1. Broken Wings

**Broken Wings**

It was a beautiful day; the sky was a wonderful shade of blue as a few big, white, fluffy clouds decorated it. Birds were whistling their tunes to find partners. In the distance you could hear the cars from the busy main street and children running around, finally playing outside again after all the rain from the past few weeks had dried up, which had made it impossible for them to go outside any earlier.

You stopped for a moment and forgot all the problems tormenting your mind as you closed your eyes and enjoyed nature for a few moments. A soft wind blew through your hair and for the first time that day you actually managed to relax without having to force yourself.

A pair of kids zoomed past you, laughing as they went, and pulled your thoughts back to your current situation. Almost forgetting what you came to do, you remembered as you looked at the pretty big carton box that you had been holding in your arms all this time. One of your shops' biggest customers, also the one you knew almost nothing about, except for his name and where he lived, always had a delivery of the same carton box, once a week on exactly the same day. You had always been curious about what was inside, probably the same thing each time because it seemed to have the same weight each week and sounded the same whenever you rattled it. You had never gotten complaints of broken items, so you guessed that there wasn't anything breakable in there…

Continuing your journey towards said customer, you let your thoughts wander freely so that time would pass by faster than normally.

Each week, on exactly the same day with exactly the same box in your arms, you would kick the door with your foot because, hey, your arms were too busy not letting the customer's items fall. Kisuke Urahara would then open the door, always smiling exactly the same jovial smile.

"Ah, hello, [F/N]-san~!" he would then say, helping you with the box by carefully taking it over from your arms, making more contact with your skin than necessary.

"Thank you very much. Oh, would you like something to drink?" he'd offer politely, but you'd always decline just as politely, saying something like, "I need to get back as soon as possible, boss is waiting for me."

He'd nod and proceed to talk about things like the weather, or if you'd watched this show on the television. Though you knew nothing about him, you knew Urahara himself pretty well, as in how his personality was and how he thought about things. You had had lots of conversations about politics and economics, religion… The list goes on. He was a great person to have deep conversations with.

But this time, it would be different. You weren't your usual self at the moment because you and your sister had been fighting yesterday and what made it all even worse was that you knew it was all your own fault and your sister had every right to be mad at you.

Your parents had died in a car crash a few years ago, though the two of you had gotten over it pretty soon… That is probably what your parents would have wanted. Plus, you weren't on your own; you still had your sister. At least, that was what you hoped.

She had fallen in love. You had noticed it immediately, but that wasn't hard when she never answered most of your attempts at having a serious conversation with her and instead dozed off with a dreamy look in her eyes. The feelings being mutual, it had only taken a few weeks and by now, all that had happened a few months ago.

But your guts told you not to… 'like' him. You hadn't wanted your sister to visit him yesterday, which resulted in this fight. She even left the house to sleep at his tonight, until 'You had calmed down a bit.'

After kicking the door of the Urahara Shop, it didn't take much longer than half a minute before somebody opened it, like he had been expecting you. Urahara stood in the door opening, cheerful as ever. A look of concern flashed through his eyes as he took in your unusually dishevelled appearance, bags under your eyes, that kind of stuff.

"Ah, hello, [F/N]-san…" the same words as every week, but his voice seemed less confident and cheery than that it normally was. Well, today just wasn't going to turn out to be 'the usual'.

After carefully accepting the brown package he placed it on the floor next to him, just behind the door. "Thank you very much."

You smiled, or at least tried to smile, in response and already knew how this conversation would go on. Or maybe you craved for some variety for once?

"Would you like something to drink?" Urahara asked with his polite yet somehow warm voice. He thought that he knew what was going to happen, almost expected you to reject just like always. But you were tired and you felt horrible. Without your sister at home, you just hadn't been able to sleep last night. You had worried, thinking about all the different scenarios of what could happen to her, coming home safe and alive not among them. At this moment, you couldn't really care about the customers waiting at the shop, hadn't you deserved a little something in return for once? Your boss could probably handle everything himself, right?

"Actually, I think that'd be a wonderful idea," you replied with a genuine, although tired, smile. This only added to Urahara's suspicions. You weren't hard to read, you really were an open book. The most interesting part was that you even seemed to know it, but you also didn't really care about it. Somehow, that managed to give you something beautiful. Urahara had always found that rather intriguing about you, ever since the first time that you had delivered his package for him.

While being led through the house, you greeted the employees that helped Urahara (or Kisuke, as he had asked you to call him) with his shop. There was the large and serious Tessai who seemed to treat _Kisuke_ as his master, the cute Ururu and of course, the red head Jinta.

Kisuke showed you something that looked like a living room and told you to sit at the table. "Tessai, could you please bring us something to drink?"

The man in question merely nodded and you wondered how on earth he was supposed to know what kind of drinks he had to make for the two of you, seeing as Kisuke had never specifically mentioned anything more informative than "something to drink"…

"So…" Kisuke began all of a sudden, his attention back to you. He had started fanning his face with a simple fan, as if it were hot in the room. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

So it was obvious that something was tormenting your mind at the moment. The seemingly simple question actually did get you to think. What really _was_ wrong with you? You couldn't say that you had been in a fight with your sister. For some reason that just felt… wrong. Maybe it was just your imagination, but you felt that Kisuke's question had some deeper meaning than just that.

Oh well, let's just be honest.

"I don't know." Your answer seemed to take Kisuke by surprise, but soon enough he had acquired his usual attitude once more.

"Well, what happened? Something must have happened, maybe we can start from there?" Was he expecting this to be some kind of fun detective game, treating your problems like they were insignificant? You felt some anger spark inside of you, but before it could grow you told yourself that he was only trying to help you.

Inner emotions put to the side, you answered Kisuke's question. "I had a fight with my sister yesterday and she slept somewhere else because of that… and I really can't sleep in a house with no one else, I know it sounds stupid…"

Kisuke seemed to ignore your semi-confession, which kind of hurt your feelings though you did not know why, and continued. "What was the fight about?"

You blushed and felt a little awkward all of a sudden. It really had been a stupid reason to pick a fight about… "Because of her boyfriend, for some reason I don't really like him."

Frowning, you started to wonder why exactly you didn't like him. It wasn't like you didn't actually _trust_ him… You were already pretty sure that you didn't have to worry about leaving your sister in his care.

There! That feeling right there, when you thought about leaving your sister to him. You got it every time your sister started talking about her boyfriend, a sharp pain that wasn't really physical but actually seemed to be so. You hated it, wanted to get rid of it…

"You're afraid he'll hurt her?" his question interrupted your mind's rambling, as if on purpose, but he couldn't read minds because otherwise he would've 'heard' or 'read' that that wasn't the problem right now.

"No, that's not it… I completely trust him… But I still don't want my sister to visit him…"

Even before you had managed to finish your sentence, Kisuke let out a triumphant noise, hitting the palm of his left hand with his right hand which was clenched into a fist, a sound that seemed similar to 'pon~' floating through the air though you weren't quite sure if that had been your imagination or not.

"You're jealous!" he exclaimed, now pointing his finger at you, looking as if he had just solved the mystery of life.

"W-what?!" your face turned bright red, embarrassment filling you as you didn't know what you were supposed to say to that. Luckily, Tessai chose exactly this moment to enter the room while holding a tray with two cups and a tea can balanced in the middle of it. Hoping that he wouldn't notice the colour of your face, you quickly lowered your head so that your bangs covered most of it.

As he finished pouring in the drinks, you murmured a soft thank you, only receiving something that resembled a 'kind grunt' before he quickly left the room. He probably felt the tenseness floating through the air. The tenseness seemed to be coming from your side only, seeing as Kisuke, seemingly cheerful, picked up his cup, took a big sip and let out a sigh so big that it sounded as if he had been craving the taste of the drink for a few years already.

"What's the matter?" Kisuke inquired politely, noticing the suspicion in your narrowed eyes that were glaring at him, looking as if he _hadn't_ noticed it. Seriously, you didn't know how he did it, but somehow he managed to piss you off yet, at the same time, make you feel all fuzzy inside.

"You said I was jealous... Of my sister's boyfriend?" you cautiously asked as your mind was trying its best to puzzle everything out. Somehow, it all seemed to make sense now and you started feeling a little stupid that you hadn't realized it any earlier.

"That seems pretty obvious to me. You don't want your sister to be with him, don't want to sleep in a house without her but it has nothing to do with the boy himself. You're just a bit jealous that she's got someone other than you," he summed it all up rather casually, like it was the most normal thing in the world. Maybe you were being a bit egoistic here, it wasn't like your problems were unique and impossibly difficult to solve.

Ignoring the small tears that started tormenting your eyes all of a sudden – sheesh, what was _with_ you these days, being all moody – you wrapped your fingers around your cup and lifted it to your lips, resisting the urge to down it all in one go.

As you placed your cup back to its original spot, you didn't notice that your hands had been shaking more than they normally did. Kisuke, however, had observed this, which was why you were so surprised when suddenly he placed his hand on the table, resting his weight on it as he reached out with his other hand.

All of this had happened in such a high speed that you didn't even have enough to time to move back a tad and by the time your senses finally returned to normal, Kisuke's surprisingly soft fingers were cupping your chin. Only then did you see that he had taken his hat off and you saw that the eyes that were staring into yours were green, or grey? You weren't too sure.

Kisuke opened his mouth and was about to say something when you decided that you didn't really want to hear it, afraid that he was going to say something else that hit right home. It scared you, _frightened_ you that this person you only saw once a week already knew everything about who you were and what made you tick.

"I think I should return to the shop..." you stated, giving Kisuke no other option than to retract his hand and let you go. He threw in a smile as well, taking you by surprise and almost making your knees go weak even though you were still sitting on the ground.

As Kisuke led you back to the front door, you managed to say your goodbyes to the other three living here and also thanked Tessai for the tea, to which he lifted the corners of his mouth. You could barely even see it because his moustache was kind of in the way.

"Please forgive me for my rude behaviour," you apologized with a small bow once you were standing outside, offering Kisuke a small smile once you were standing straight again. He only responded with a shrug as his eyes smiled at you, the bottom half of his face once more hidden behind his fan.

After quickly waving at Kisuke you turned around and started on your trip back to the shop where your boss may or may not be slightly pissed at you because you had taken so long. Luckily you still had the whole way back to think of some excuse.

Letting a sigh of relief escape, you felt part of the stress leaving your body and you realized that having that small talk with Kisuke had helped you feel a bit better. You wondered what would have happened if you hadn't stopped Kisuke from holding your face. Would he have kissed you? Why did he even do it to begin with? A blush dusted your cheeks when you caught yourself wishing it was already next week and that you were on your way back to him.

Debating with yourself why you should or shouldn't have a crush on him as you made your way back to work, you had no idea of what was to come.


	2. When Kingdoms Fall

**When Kingdoms Fall**

"W-wha…?" was all you could manage to say as you stared at your sister, speechless. Literally.

"I'm sorry, really, but I think it's the best. For both of us," she finished her proposal. So much for this being a 'proposal', like she had started ("Hey, [F/N], I have an idea…"), it was more like she was filling you in on the plan she had thought up a few days ago.

It had already been less than a week since your fight and the talk with Kisuke. You had apologized and asked her to come home. All was well, you had thought, but suddenly she started talking about moving in with her boyfriend.

"This way, everyone will gain something. We can finally start working on our future and you can learn how to, well, share me," she had probably guessed that your main problem with her boyfriend was that you were jealous of the time she spent with him.

Your throat seemed to tighten and tears filled your eyes. "What do you mean, 'everyone will gain something'? I'll only lose something! I'll lose _everything_ important to me!"

Sighing, your sister shook her head and you already knew what she was going to say… 'Nonsense, exaggerating'…

"Stop talking nonsense. Aren't you exaggerating a little right now? You won't lose anything, you'll just see me a little less… Okay, maybe in the beginning you won't see me a lot, because I'll have to move all my furniture away, but once that's over I'll visit you regularly. And don't say stupid things like 'you're my only important thing', we're past that phase, aren't we?" she said it with a smile while patting your head, but you couldn't believe she had actually said it.

Shoving her away from you, anger and other built-up feelings welling up inside of you, you forgot to hold your tears back and they freely flowed over your cheeks.

"Who the hell do you think… you are, saying what is or isn't important to others! I don't care… if all of my belongings get stolen… I don't care… if I don't have a house anymore, I don't care if I'd get wounded… and _die_, as long as I still have you! Just because _you_ only think… of yourself and your boyfriend doesn't mean… the rest of the world does so too!" you yelled while throwing your hands about aggressively, your rant regularly being interrupted by a hiccup, a sob or a sniff.

Your sister just stood there, surprised by your sudden outburst. You being the quiet and calm kid you had always been, you had never really gotten angry at anyone or anything. This used to annoy your sis because you never stood up for yourself, but right now, she didn't know what to do. Not even wanting to hear her reaction, you ran to the front door, swung it open with as much force as you could possibly muster and slammed it shut with just as much power.

It was then that you noticed, but just barely, that is was raining cats and dogs. Figuratively. But you ignored it, feeling far too lost to even care. What were you supposed to do? Where were you supposed to go? You didn't have anyone but your sister! Friends, yes, but friends you could go to anytime of the day without announcing your coming, just because you felt like it, or maybe, oh I don't know, maybe because your sister had just, well, rejected you?

So you just ran, as fast as you could. You didn't know where you were going, but it didn't matter as you just went on and on. It felt good to turn your brain off and just go somewhere, not caring about anything.

Your hair was drenched, your clothes stuck uncomfortably to your skin, your shoes squished with every step you took, but you didn't care. As long as you didn't have to _think_.

A head-on collision with something snapped you back into reality, but before the thoughts managed to wash over you, you realized that there _was nothing blocking your path_. Looking around, you saw someone lying on the ground, a boy with orange hair, unconscious. You walked over to the body and carefully poked it.

"Hello? Are you alright?"

"Watch out!" you spun around as you heard someone yell that, trying to spot what you were supposed to watch out for. The voice had sounded weird, distant. It was then that you saw the damage done to the road… and even more was being added this instant… but you couldn't see who was responsible for it. "Get out of the way!"

You reacted too late to the blurry outlines that were slowly becoming visible to your mortal eyes and you suddenly felt blood trickle down your eyebrow and cheek, mixing with the rain.

"Go!" the voice yelled once more and this time you didn't hesitate to follow it, letting your legs run wherever they wanted, but it was too late. Your train of thoughts had been reactivated by the sudden pause, regret and grief washing over you in the form of sobs and tears.

It seemed to take ages until your legs finally decided to stop and you could almost feel your heart beat in your throat as you realized where your limbs had taken you. Standing in front of you was Urahara Shop.

"I can't just knock at the door and ask them if they'd let me stay…" you muttered to yourself. To make matters worse, your body suddenly decided to notice it was getting cold, causing it to start shivering uncontrollably. The cut on your forehead started to hurt like hell and suddenly a flash appeared, quickly followed by a roar of thunder making you fall to your knees.

The door to the shop was shoved open, a figure showing in the doorway. The outlines of a hat made it obvious who it was and you couldn't help but smile a tiny bit as you saw Kisuke clumsily try to open an umbrella.

"What the hell are you doing here in such weather, [F/N]?" he yelled as he ran over to you, dropping the 'san' after your name. You weren't sure if he did it on purpose or if he just forgot it in all this mess.

"I don't know," you cried and Kisuke grabbed you with one arm, easily pulling you up and dragging you behind him as he sprinted back to the house, thunder and lightning continuing their game behind you.

You allowed yourself to relax once Kisuke closed the door again and you fell back on your knees, seeing they were bleeding a bit too because of the harsh landing on the stones a few moments ago.

With a sigh, Kisuke knelt down in front of you, his hands wiping the hair out of your face so that he could examine the cut on your forehead. The blood covering your face made it look far worse than that it actually was. As he continued to check your body for any wounds, he wiped away the tears he found.

"Please stay here," he told you before getting up and speed-walking off to somewhere. You could hear voices murmuring in the distance, probably Kisuke who was explaining the situation to the others, even though he didn't know all of it himself.

He returned soon after with a first aid kit. He dropped it to the ground and resumed his position on his knees in front of you before opening it. You watched him pull out some tissues with which he started wiping your face clean, concentrating on making it as painless as possible.

"Nothing serious, this will heal in about a week," he informed you with a relieved smile, ignoring the fact that you didn't really care, which was pretty obvious from how empty your eyes were as you watched him do his thing.

After quickly sticking a plaster to it, he continued his work with your knees, repeating the steps he had taken with your forehead. This time he decided to disinfect it as well which received some hissing from your part as it stung pretty much.

"I'm sorry," Kisuke mumbled while bandaging them. Once he had finished up everything, he turned his attention to you yourself. It was almost visible in his eyes that he wanted to ask you a question, the obvious question, but he didn't dare to actually ask it seeing the state the answer had managed to put you in.

"Sis is moving out," was all that you offered him. It seemed to be enough because he just nodded and hummed understandingly.

"What about the cut?" he cautiously asked you. He already knew where the wounds from your knees came from so there was no point in asking about that.

Some life returned to your eyes and you frowned, not really knowing the answer yourself.

"I don't know… I..." you hesitated, afraid that Kisuke would think you mad for having these thoughts. Maybe he'd think you had gone crazy or that you had taken something. What did you have to lose, anyway? "I couldn't see..."

Kisuke nodded once more, surprising you. "I'll explain that to you tomorrow, if that's alright with you?"

For one moment, relief washed over you. You had been afraid to ask the question, afraid of the reply that you might get but now he was telling you that you were welcome. At least you had some place to stay, for the moment.

Kisuke stood up and helped you get up as well. "I think it's best if you go to sleep."

While nodding thankfully, you suddenly felt just how tired you actually were. Kisuke led you through the house, just like last week, but this time the atmosphere was exactly the opposite. Ururu and Jinta were probably asleep right now, since it was probably in the middle of the night right now.

"This is my room," Kisuke stopped all of a sudden, his hand tapping on one of the doors in the hallway. "If there's a problem, feel free to wake me up, okay?"

You continued your routine of nodding silently and Kisuke took you further into the house. Not far from what he had called his own room was the room that he had named 'yours'. While you were busy wondering why someone like him had so many spare rooms, Kisuke had already wished you a good night and was gone before you could even blink. After failing to find him by looking around a couple of times, you slipped into the room and quietly slid the door closed behind you.

It was a simple room with a bed, a small drawer at the other end of the room and a round table in the corner next to the door. Without leaving yourself much time to wander off, you made the bed and practically rolled into it, making sure you were wrapped in really tight to make you feel a little secure. Luckily it didn't take long before the shower outside had lulled you to sleep…


	3. Numb

**Numb**

A shock went through you, your eyes abruptly open and you realized you hadn't actually been hit by lightning. It had just been a dream, caused by the horrible weather outside. You wondered what time it was, but couldn't find anything that might answer your question.

Another flash lightened up your room and you rolled yourself into a ball. When was this storm ever going to end? Were you afraid of thunder and lightning? _Of course_ you were, frightened even, but who wasn't? Probably a lot of people, but that didn't matter right now.

Thunder followed the light and you just couldn't take it anymore. Throwing the blankets off of you, you got up while remembering Kisuke's words. 'If there's a problem, feel free to wake me up, okay?'

This was a problem, right? Was it really a big enough problem for you to wake Kisuke up? For you it was, so off to Kisuke you went. Without realizing that you had crawled into bed with your soaking wet clothes which were still moist, you tried to make your way through the house as quiet as possible.

You had somehow managed to remember the path through the building from your room to Kisuke's, the storm outside not letting up by even a tiny bit which caused you to wince every now and then. It felt like decades had passed once you reached Kisuke's door. At least, you hoped it was his door…

Without making a sound, you slid the door open and noticing the pile of clothes with a hat placed neatly on top of it you knew this was the right room after all. You closed the door behind you without being too noisy and shuffled over to the bed in the middle of the room in which a figure was lying.

Still unsure of Kisuke's reaction, you went to sit on your knees next to him, his back facing you. A stripe of light fell in through a window and shone on his face, his messy hair which was even more ruffled than usual covered his face. You could feel your heart beat wildly as you bent over him and reached out to brush the strands of hair away, almost staring in awe at the beauty of his face.

A wave of something you couldn't quite give a name washed over you and before you knew it, you had grabbed the blankets covering the man in front of you, lifting them up just enough for you to slip under them. After doing just that, the world seemed to reappear around you and the effects of the thunder and lightning from outside settled once more.

Kisuke groaned in displeasure, being ripped out of his sweet dreams by a pair of hands that were suddenly clutching the clothes he was sleeping in. He felt a face bury itself in his back and he knew it couldn't be Ururu because of the size of the hands.

"[F/N?]" he questioned you quietly and it was obvious he was still drunk from sleeping.

"Sorry, please don't mind me and go back to sleep. It's just the storm," you tried to calm him down, afraid that he was angry with you.

You felt Kisuke try to turn around and you shrunk back, hiding under the covers that you had stolen from him. "Please don't be mad…"

Kisuke chuckled softly and placed his hand on top your head, softly pressing your face against his chest. Your heart rate skyrocketed and your face went tomato-red at the gesture, but the comfort it brought immediately neutralized the effect the closeness was having.

"I did tell you to come to me if something was wrong, didn't I?" he joked while placing his free arm over your shoulder, his hand drawing small circles on your back. You couldn't believe that the calming effect that he was having on you was exactly the same as when you were with your sister.

Tears started to gather in the corners of your eyes at the thought of your sister but you didn't try to hold them back this time. Kisuke somehow managed to notice, even in the dark, and he quickly wiped them away. "Please tell me."

Not sure what he was actually referring to, you just started talking.

"My parents died in a car crash a few years ago. That night had the same weather as tonight. I tried to stop them from going out, but they told me I was exaggerating but that really was the last time I ever spoke to them."

Kisuke's hold on you tightened, probably expecting you to be sad. But you weren't… you had let go of the past long ago.

"We mourned, of course we did… but we got over it pretty fast. We had each other, after all..."

"Tell me something about your parents," Kisuke told you that in an attempt to distract you from the thoughts of your sister, no doubt.

A smile spread across your face as you remembered your parents. "My mother was the boss and my father always did what she wanted. Sometimes we even had to protect him from her. I don't remember him ever fighting back, no even once… When we got into trouble, he'd always stay at the sidelines. It always made me so mad that he never stood up against her, for himself and for us. But afterwards he'd always make it better with some ice cream."

"So you were your daddy's little girl? I hadn't expected that," Kisuke pondered while his hand that was pressed against the back of your head started to stroke your hair. "What about friends? Boyfriends?"

Digging up the memories from your past, you missed the hidden undertone in Kisuke's voice as he asked about any boyfriends you may or may not have had.

"Nothing really special actually. Some normal school friends, but nothing like a best friend or anything. I really one had my sis…" you swallowed back the tears that tried to make a reappearance and quickly went on. "And I never had a boyfriend, I never seemed to find the right guy."

An awkward silence filled the air though you weren't sure if it was only you who could feel it. Why had Kisuke even asked such a thing?

By the time you noticed that Kisuke had moved his hands from your body and your head, it was already too late. He rested them on your cheeks as he firmly pressed his lips against yours.

Your eyes went wide and the first thought was to pull back, but then your mind shut itself down and you just kissed him back and enjoyed the sensation of him claiming you.

Both of you broke the kiss at the same time and Kisuke rested his forehead against yours, nose tips touching too. Apparently your confusion is obvious because he suddenly shrugged.

"I just had to make you mine before someone else did." Butterflies inside of you started to flutter like crazy and you wondered if Kisuke could feel the heat of your body rising as well.

"What does that mean?" you asked, your mind still clouded in disarray. Kisuke sighed, apparently he was going to have to spell it out for you.

"I think you're interesting and I would like to do things with you, if you want," he tried to tell you in the most simple way he could possibly muster.

"You mean… Go on a date with you?"

"Well, if that's what you want to call it, sure. But not right now. You should get some sleep first." Kisuke, feeling slightly relieved, gave you a small good night kiss on your temple.

"Good night," he sighed, only to realize you had already fallen asleep in his arms.

The feeling of being awake slowly seeped into your body and you started to stretch yourself out, starting from your chest and moving towards your limbs until you felt satisfied with the tiny exercise. You relaxed once more, noticing something wasn't right.

Looking over to the side, you sucked in a breath of shock, noticing the dark eyes eyeing you in curiosity. "Good morning, Sunshine."

You yelped as your head turned tomato-red in embarrassment and you quickly grabbed some of the blankets, throwing them over yourself to hide under them, which caused Kisuke to laugh, only making your face shine even brighter.

"What's wrong? Did I scare you? Or maybe you think last night was a mistake?" Kisuke inquired, talking as if the two of you had actually done something the night before. But you hadn't... Right?

"N-no... I just... kind of forgot I had slept here," you mumbled while crawling out of your safety cave made out of blankets. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused..."

"Don't worry about it. It was a pleasure for me to be able to help," he replied and put his hand on top of your still slightly red head, softly ruffling your hair that was probably already messed up from sleeping. The action seemed so innocent and small, yet it managed to awaken a rather big response from your body. Your heart started beating faster in excitement, the palms of your hands becoming covered in a small layer of sweat.

Quickly wiping your hands clean on one of the blankets, you started muttering, "Maybe it's time for breakfast, don't you think?"

"And what if it's not?" Kisuke retorted with a playful tone, grinning cheerfully at you. Your face that had barely managed to regain its natural colour was already blushing again and you furiously shook your head.

"But it_ is_ so get dressed!" you ordered him, trying to sound just as playful but somehow failing miserably because of the embarrassment still coursing through you.

"Alright, alright," Kisuke smiled at you as he got up, throwing his shirt off in the process of doing so. W-what was he doing now?

_"Getting dressed, obviously, you idiot," _a voice in your head snapped at you. Oh, right.

You almost feared that you were going to have a heart attack as he also jumped out of his pants, quickly pulling on his usual trousers and finishing it up by throwing on the jacket he always wore. He turned around and caught you staring at him, the surprise still evident in your gaze.

"What's wrong? We need to get dressed, right?" he asked you innocently and you held back a growl once you realized he had been teasing you all this time. Though it shouldn't have been too hard to figure it out, it was really obvious actually, you had been too busy _drooling._

"Right, sorry..." you mumbled and got up. Looking down at your clothes, you remembered you had slept in your wet clothes and now they were completely wrinkled and just looked horrible. "Oh."

"Oh dear, we've got to do something about that," Kisuke stated the obvious, immediately starting to think of a solution, but you wouldn't let him do so.

"Don't worry! I'll go home and fetch some clean clothes..." but that made you wonder... Were you actually going to come back here once you went back? Before you could start to worry about that, Kisuke grabbed your wrist and started dragging you behind him, out of the room and towards the living room.

Once you sat down, you looked around, wondering where the others were. "Ururu-chan and Jinta-kun are still asleep, it's their day off today. Tessai-san is probably doing some work, that guy _never_ takes the day off..." You nodded thankfully at the answer to your silent question.

You were expecting to have breakfast now, but apparently Kisuke had other plans first. His cheerful face from mere seconds ago was nowhere to be seen, it had been replaced by a serious face that you had only seen on his beautiful face the evening before, when he found you outside. Coincidentally, your wounds suddenly started to itch but you stopped yourself from scratching.

"So, tell me what happened yesterday," he practically commanded you and you looked at him in surprise; hadn't you told him that already? But he was dead-serious, his stare almost making you afraid that he was going to hurt you if you didn't answer as soon as possible.

"Eh, well, sis told me that she wanted to..." you started nervously, but couldn't get any further than that.

"I didn't mean that. I was talking about the cut you had," Kisuke interrupted you, his gaze softening slightly as he noticed the effect it was having on you and he reached out to softly caress your forehead over the piece of cloth covering the itching wound.

"I told you, I don't know," you fired at him, getting slightly irritated at the repeated questions. Kisuke merely shook his head, ignoring the annoyance evident in your voice.

"I want to tell you what it was."

You looked at him in surprise. "How could you know?"

"Just tell me... Please."

Sighing, you gave up, realizing you were never going to win from him. So you tried to think back, tried to remember what exactly had happened. In a flash, you suddenly remembered the body lying on the ground.

"Ah, I remember now! Somebody was lying on the ground and I thought he was dead, so I went to check him out..." you ignored how that just sounded terribly wrong. "But then someone started talking to me, but I couldn't... see anybody?"

Okay, that sounded a lot better in your head. Kisuke was probably going to think you had tripped and hit your head somewhere, and now you had a concussion and were hallucination or whatever.

To your surprise, Kisuke looked at you only with serious eyes, disbelief not showing up. "What did the body look like?"

"Well... I can't really remember much more than that he had orange hair..." you mumbled, flustered at how useless you were, even though you had been at the very happening yourself. If you hadn't really just been hallucinating...

"Must have been Ichigo," Kisuke stated, confusing you even more. What the hell was going on here?

"You know him?"

Kisuke nodded, but didn't give you any more information to that.

"You couldn't see anything? Anything at all?" Kisuke was sceptical of the fact that you could hear it, but couldn't see it.

"Well... Not really... But I, uh, how should I say it? I kind of thought, or saw or I don't really know what, I just kinda _knew_ there was something there..." you rambled on a bit, trying to give your thoughts the right words.

Kisuke opened his mouth to tell you something, but stopped as he saw you close your eyes, frowning in concentration as you tried your best to remember what happened.

"Okay, what happened? I was running, I don't know where I was... And suddenly I saw that guy lying there. I went to see if he was alright, but suddenly someone told me to get out of the way... But there was nobody there..."

Thinking back at the moment, you remembered getting up and turning around... "Something came towards me... I could see it, a little, not much... It... An arm? Cut..."

Suddenly, a pressure seemed to push on top of you and you gasped for air, feeling as if you had suddenly been pulled under water. "What...?"

A roar filled the air and in that moment, the big question mark in your memory disappeared, in its place came a huge monster with a mask, lunging towards you, its huge claw barely grazing your face. Not much longer, the person that had been lying on the ground all that time appeared in black clothing, continuing his fight with the monster.

"Don't worry, it's being taken care of," Kisuke reassured you, telling you he felt it too. It didn't take long before the horrible pain disappeared and you sucked in air like you popped winegums into your mouth when you craved them.

"What was _that_?" you managed to say in between pants as you tried your best to regain enough air to live normally once again.

"What you felt and what you saw are Hollows. Sometimes, when people die, their souls stay in this world and if they don't get sent to Soul Society, where all souls go to, they eventually turn into Hollows who eat both dead and living souls."

Now it was your turn to _really_ stare at him in disbelief. Part of you wanted to think he had gone mad, wished that he'd burst out in laughter at your face because it was just a joke. But his face didn't betray any such emotions, and anyway, you knew that he wasn't kidding because you had seen it, _felt_ it even. There was no way you couldn't believe him.

From all the things you could pick to react to, you just had to choose the most stupid. "You mean... my parents could still be here?"

Even Kisuke was surprised by your comeback. He had expected you to ask him all about the Hollows and souls getting sent to Soul Society, or even about what Soul Society might be, but instead you questioned him about some souls staying here after dying. He shrugged and let it go. "Maybe."

It was too late to do anything about it, so you just tried to forget it and stay in the present, with Kisuke, who was waiting for you to ask your questions. To your surprise, you didn't really have any.

"Is that all?" Kisuke asked and when you nodded, he smiled at you as his cheerful mood returned. "Well then, let's go get something to eat!"

It was about noon when Kisuke opened the front door to let you out. He held your wrist in his hand once again, this time seeming reluctant to release it, but he did so anyway.

"Well then, I guess I should go home again..." you trailed off, afraid of what you might find there. Maybe your sister was waiting for you, furious at how you simply left last night. Or maybe she had already forgotten it all and didn't think much of it. Maybe she had already left.

"You can come back any time, if you wish," Kisuke reassured you as he sensed your fear. You smiled gratefully before taking a few small steps until you were standing outside.

"Say, Kisuke..." you started. Once you made sure you had his attention, you continued, "What exactly _are_ we now?"

You hoped your question hadn't confused him, because it would be rather awkward having to explain it to him. The smile on his face told you he knew perfectly well what you were talking about.

"Whatever you _want_ us to be," he told you and butterflies fluttered once more.

Not feeling like answering with words, you went back to standing in front of him. Once there, you pressed your hands against the sides of his face and kissed him on his lips. More passionate than just a 'normal' kiss but not passionate enough to be called much more than a small kiss. You took a step back and examined his face which was currently holding a knowing smile.

Smiling back at him, you turned around and started on your way home.

Standing in front of the door to your house, you hesitated before knocking. At first there was silence, but it didn't take long before a loud crash was heard, followed by hurried steps. It took a total of about three seconds since the knock when the door was suddenly swung open with more force than necessary, the knob smashing against the wall.

In front of you stood your sis, wearing a bathrobe over her pyjamas, her hair in a mess, just like her face. The messed up mascara told you that she had been crying, the way her eyes were red and puffy showed that she had been crying _a lot._

"Where were you?!" she started crying again, sobbing loudly as she flung herself at you, arms almost chocking you as she gave you a bear-hug. "I was so worried!"

Guilt washed over you as you returned her hug, pressing your face against her shoulder and breathing in her scent. "Sorry..."

"No, don't say sorry. _I_ should be sorry... I only thought about myself and completely forgot you, I can't just leave you all on your own, I am supposed to take care of you! Please forgive me!" she sniffled, regret almost rolling off her in waves.

You smiled and patted her on the back, trying to tell her it's okay. "You just wanted to be with him, right, and you thought it would be good for me too if we were apart for a bit, so technically you had always been thinking of me, right?"

Your sister's sniffing slowly died down and you could tell you had managed to reassure her.

After a few minutes of silent hugging, your sister breathed in some air before speaking. "But... what do we do now?"

You merely shrugged. "I... met someone..."

With a small gasp, your sister tore herself away from your grasp, her eyes shining happily as she started firing questions at you. "What, really? Who? And when?!"

"Sis, that doesn't matter right now. I brought it up because... You could live with your boyfriend if you wanted to. I'm sure Kisuke will take me in if I explain the situation to him, so I won't be alone, okay?"

"Kisuke? Urahara Kisuke? That guy you always deliver stuff for in the weekend? That's _so cute_!" she squealed enthusiastically and you rolled your eyes because your sis was completely missing the point here.

"Sis, that's not important right now, okay? I'm telling you that you can live together if you want," you repeated your statement from before and you sighed as you noticed your sister reacting like this was the first time she had heard it. Her eyes went wide, tears filling them and her lip started to tremble.

"Now, sis, please don't-" but before you could ask her not to cry, she did exactly_ that_ and started wailing like a small child as she returned to squishing you in a hug.

"Thank you, you're really the best sister I could ever ask for!" she cried, but soon her sobbing died down and she was already dragging you inside, asking you all the details about your new boyfriend.

A figure who had been hiding behind a tree watched as your sister closed the door behind her, enthusiastic yelling continuing none the less, and he laughed. Shaking his head, Kisuke pressed his hat against his head to make sure it wasn't going to fall off as he made his way back to his shop.

After all, they were expecting a guest.


End file.
